B. Keith Davidson - NFL

School-to-Home Support for Caregivers and Teachers This high-interest book is designed to motivate striving students with engaging topics while building fluency, vocabulary, and an interest in reading. Here are a few questions and activities to help the reader build upon his or her comprehension skills. Before Reading: What do I think this book is about? What do I know about this topic? What do I want to learn about this topic? Why am I reading this book? During Reading: I wonder why... Im curious to know... How is this like something I already know? What have I learned so far? After Reading: What was the author trying to teach me? What are some details? How did the photographs and captions help me understand more? Read the book again and look for the vocabulary words. What questions do I still have? Extension Activities: What was your favorite part of the book? Write a paragraph on it. Draw a picture of your favorite thing you learned from the book.

The Early Games..........................................

The rst football games were played between college teams, 50 years before the professional leagues started to form. It looked nothing like the sport we know today. The ball couldnt be carried and players had to kick or swat the ball into the end zone.

In early football games, the home team decided the rules that the teams had to follow. FUN FACT

A football game starts with a kicko. The kicker places the ball in a plastic tee and kicks it down the eld. The opposing team tries to catch the ball and run it back toward their goal. The team may choose to take a knee instead. If a player kneels down with the ball in his end zone, his team starts at the 25- yard line. The first game was November 6, 1869, between Rutgers and Princeton universities. Rutgers won.

Its hard to know what skills make for a good quarterback. Is it accurate passing? Or could it be his ability to read the defense? The quarterback is often compared to a general leading his soldiers down the eld.

There are 32 teams in the NFL , but only 20 have actually won a Super Bowl.

Running backs, fullbacks, and even the quarterback can run the ball if they cant make a pass. Keeping the ball is sometimes safer than passing, because it doesnt give the defense players a chance to catch the ball and run it back toward their goal.

Pudge Heffelfinger (December 20, 1867April 2, 1954), is widely regarded as the first professional football player. He was paid $500 to play one game with the Allegheny Athletic Association in 1892. He scored the games only touchdown. FUN FACT Ronald Jones, running back for Tampa Bay Buccaneers, jumps over Byron Murphy, cornerback for the Arizona Cardinals.

Right from the snap , the wide receiver takes o from the line of scrimmage and runs in a pre-planned pattern called a route. His job is to catch the ball from the quarterback. Sometimes wide receivers have to battle for the ball. They will dive into the air to catch it with their hands, or like David Tyree, with their helmets.

Some fans say that David Tyrees helmet catch is one of the greatest Super Bowl plays of all time. Before that game, David Tyree had caught only five passes the whole season and he had dropped every pass thrown to him in practice the day before. FUN FACT

The center is the man in the middle of the oensive line. When he snaps the ball, he and the rest of the linesmen are lined up in front of their quarterback. Their job is to give their quarterback enough time to make a play and help break holes in the others teams defense.

The job of the defense is to stop opponents from moving down the eld and force them to turn the ball over. Defensive players also score points when they tackle players running the ball in their own end zone, or when they return an interception for a touchdown.

Vontae Davis is the only player in history to retire from football during a game. Davis retired at halftime. His team, the Buffalo Bills, lost 31-20 to the Los Angeles Chargers. FUN FACT The Atlanta Falcons play the New York Jets at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.